books.google.ca - Christopher Columbus' discovery of the new world launched a process of economic and cultural integration that continues to this day. In the wake of Columbus's voyages, the major powers of Western Europe established imperial systems that shaped global politics and economics for centuries. "The Historical...http://books.google.ca/books/about/Historical_Dictionary_of_European_Imperi.html?id=uyqepNdgUWkC&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareHistorical Dictionary of European Imperialism